Laser, red or green

[Steve H]

I'm looking to put a Lasermax Uni Max on the XDm 9 (This is the gun my wife took away from me and gave me back my Beretta 92). I see now there is a choice in laser color, red or green. I have zero experience with the green. Any thoughts or opinions on it?

[rcmodel]

You can see green in daylight.
As opposed to not seeing red in daylight.

Battery life is way less on green due to the diode drawing much more power.

Green is way more costly so far.

rc

[Steve H]

thanks RC. I just saw the price difference, huge!!

[Jorg]

Wait 'til you price a blue one.

[Dan Crocker]

Are you using it for training? Most people spend more time hunting for the dot than just picking up the front sight. I think they are great for intimidation factor or showing how messed up your trigger squeeze is, but aside from that I'm not a fan.

[Black Knight]

There is another advantage of the green laser over the red. If the target is wearing dark clothes (usually black) the red laser light is absorbed (disappears). The green laser is still showing. I saw this demonstrated at the Beretta factory a few years ago.

[RyanM]

Really wish we didn't have those idiotic 5 mW laws. I've got a 140 mW red laser pointer, which completely blows away any color 5 mW laser. It's bright enough that you can point it at the surface of a lit 60 watt bulb, and still see the dot! (and then a bunch of blue spots after) Shine the dot on your hand in the dark, and the light reflecting off your hand is enough to illuminate stuff about as well as a red Photon.

It's bright enough to almost eliminate "hunt the dot" in any lighting. Too bad it's just a pointer and not a sight.

[jaydubya]

Dan Crocker said: Most people spend more time hunting for the dot than just picking up the front sight.

"Most people" or maybe you? I am one of those 'people', with three handguns equipped with Crimson Trace laser grips, and who would not buy a handgun for which Crimson Trace did not make a grip. Needless to say, I disagree.

But back to the topic of this thread. Recently at my indoor range, a fellow in the stall two down was firing his handgun with a green laser on it. Don't know which one as he left before me. It was obvious that he had to manually turn it on and off, which is a big negative compared to CT grips. Nonetheless, it was absolutely brilliant, indeed quite distracting (especially his flinches!) even at twenty-five yards against the chopped tire backstop. My red laser was barely visible against that black background twenty-five yards away. But since my shooting is strictly for SD/HD, at five-ten yards, I do not see that as a problem (interesting point made earlier about black cloths, though).

And Dan, I have no problem picking up the red dot on my target because I am looking at my target, not wasting time hunting for the front sight. I cannot even SEE the front sight without my glasses, which I probably won't be wearing in a SD/HD situation. Be patient; you will understand.

Cordially, Jack

[TimM]

Really wish we didn't have those idiotic 5 mW laws. I've got a 140 mW red laser pointer, which completely blows away any color 5 mW laser. It's bright enough that you can point it at the surface of a lit 60 watt bulb, and still see the dot! (and then a bunch of blue spots after) Shine the dot on your hand in the dark, and the light reflecting off your hand is enough to illuminate stuff about as well as a red Photon.

It's bright enough to almost eliminate "hunt the dot" in any lighting. Too bad it's just a pointer and not a sight.
A green dot of the same intensity would be even more visible. Green is the easiest color for the human eye to detect.

[Dan Crocker]

No Jay, not me. I'm glad that it works well for you and your aging eyes.

[RyanM]

A green dot of the same intensity would be even more visible. Green is the easiest color for the human eye to detect.

Yep. But red is cheaper. My 140 mW red was $30. A green one of that power would be 10 times that much.

[Dimis]

ok i understood the switch from red to green but whats the deal with blue or was that just a joke?

[Confederate]

There are legal issues with green dots. If you ever had to shoot a bad guy, and he lived, he might decide to sue you for loss of eyesight (in a day when a judge rules that the defensive use of a handgun in a national part is an "environmental issue," don't laugh). A red dot meets all the requirements I might have, but I'm not apt to shoot anyone in the dark, period.

In subdued light, a red dot is very suitable, very easy to pick up on and lasts a long time on one set of batteries.